Homesick
by MsAmantesDelFuego
Summary: When Shaun visits certain place, he gets memories from the past. It was a nice past, after all. Some kind of AU thing. Also W&G cameo. (second chapter is up)
1. Chapter 1

The prince walked along the cave. Sounds of hooves stepping the rock echoed as he slowly headed to the edge. The wall was covered with charcoal smudges of what once were drawings of flowers and sheeps. Time almost erased them, but they were still visible. The cave, although it was smaller than when he was a lamb, it was still bigger than how it seemed at the outside.

Reaching to the end, the tunnel leaded to a cliff and a beautiful view of a misty pine forest. He sat there, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, out of all the different smells of his brothers and sisters that filled the place time ago, only one stood. It was the familiar smell of the owner of the claws that Shaun could hear clicking behind him. He would still go there often, it was the perfect place to control who would come and threat the castle without getting caught.

After running away wearing an old grey cloak to cover himself and avoid being discovered -or maybe it was the twin that was guarding the door who just let him go knowing it was him- it was expected that it would be him who would come looking for him. Who would know better a prince than his trusted knight and, most importantly, his best friend?

When a couple of soft barks asking for the sheep to go back didn't provoke a reaction from him, the dog carefully sat by his side. Years ago, the lambs and the puppy used to hang around the cave a lot, hiding from the sun in heated summer days, cuddling together in the coldest Winter, playing around, painting things they liked on the wall with pieces of charcoal they found. Shaun was the one who painted the most, being the most artistic of them. Bitzer, on the other hand, was a lover of music, so he would sometimes bring a mandore and play songs so the rest could dance. He was good at it. The queen and the King thought it was a dangerous place to be, but they didn't stop them from being there either.

He took his paw with his hoof. He used to do it back then, when all of their bodies would press together at stormy nights, seeking for protection. The puppy was who suffered the most, being his ears the most sensible to thunders, and he would end up curled up crying. The prince was the bravest of the flock, so when he began to hold his paw in an attempt to offer confort and safety, it became a habit to hold each other when needed. Now his wrist were covered in scars.

One day, when he was still a baby, a human entered the castle. In this world, humans and animals had their own kingdoms, but the human's was known for slaving their animals and treat them as inferior, so when this man came, the rest of the kindom wasn't too happy on letting him stay. However, the queen and the King, whom the prince had vague memories of, shruged it off saying that it was just a tale, just like how it was a tale that dogs eat sheeps and yet the few dogs that lived there lived peacefully with the sheeps.

The man was also capable of providing food in times of starvation, saving the kingdom once in hard, so the King and the queen decided that, if something happened to them and little Shaun wasn't old enough to become a King, he would take care of the throne until then.

The King and the queen weren't like many others. They weren't feared by their people nor did they abuse their power. They had an only child that was wild and messy and they would let his friends, lambs of his age that he considered family, to play around the castle without any rules.

It was a perfect life until everything changed when he was still a kid, when a surprise attack from a dog with skin like Steel defeated all their knights and kidnapped all the sheep. Shaun, being the smallest, was able to sneak out from the cages and escape. With the help of a man and a dog from another land, they managed to save the flock.

Turns out the ones who attacked was a far away canine kingdom looking for meat.

The rest of the flock could return to the kingdom, but the prince got separated from them, so he had to live for a while with the mechanic man and dog, learning to build some simple stuff in that time.

The day they found a way to bring him back to his kingdom, he jumped around of happiness. The travel was long and they didn't get there until night, with the help of a carriage they created that didn't need to be pulled by a horse.

It was shocking when the one who received them was the ginger human that lived with them wearing a crown. Maybe it was because the King and the queen were gone for months, and they let him take care of the throne.

After giving a goodbye hug to the man that took care of him, and the dog that was like his big brother and mentor, he rushed to the inside of the castle, hoping to find his siblings there waiting for him. Instead, the emptiness of the room made a shiver run across his spine.

Shaun sighed sadly, dropping his head at that memory. A paw under his chin lifted his head and he met a concerned look from his friend. The sheep gave him a soft smile before leaning against his shoulder.

The young prince stood in the empty living room of the castle until the man and new King gave him the order to go to his room. It was night after all, but he had missed being with his siblings around a candle telling stories.

The heavy feeling that the experience had left him faded as he wagged his tail at the sight of a well known dog shadow at the other end of the dark hall.

Running the hall like he neber did before and jumping on top of his friend, he hugged him tight, nuzzling excited the fur of his neck taking the smell he called home, even when the new armor that covered his chest made the contact difficult. Lifting his head at not feeling the hug being return, or any movement at all, the cold, emotionless, and mature stare that Bitzer had in his eyes gave the heavy feeling back, but he could still notice the way the dog was biting his bottom lip that showed how much he was actually holding in. A paw wiping away the tears from the sheep's eyes was enough to make the prince happy again.

The next morning wasn't much better. The first thing he saw when waking up was his aunt. He gave her an hug like a lamb would hug its mom, to which she responded with a hint of sadness. At first, Shaun wondered why, but as time went by and there wasn't a single sign of his parents, he guessed that that might be the reason. This ewe was like his own mother. He was sad, of course, but part of him always tried to look at the positive, as hard as that could get.

At breakfast time he learned a lot of things. First, that his siblings weren't allowed to eat with him anymore. They all had a job now inside the castle. He also learned that Bitzer was the only dog that survived, so therefore the human and King gave him a hard training to become a strong knight and protect at all costs the kingdom. With him there were another two knights; Shirley, the biggest and strongest of all sheep, and "Mower", a strong goat that used to live at the countryside. The bull was still the guardian of the castle and the mean pigs were now known thieves.

Another thing he learned was that now it was forbiden to go to the cave, but oh how much he loves to break the rules.

The castle now felt serious and hollow. Shaun tried to go visit his siblings to spend time with them, but they all acted different. Like they have grown up while he was still a lamb. Specially when the King was near. The twins were now guarding two of the major entrances of the castle, keeping a serious tone without rest. The prince's aunt was made the maid, and the motherly touch she had in the way she took care of things was now filled with abligation. Nuts' silly clumsiness was replaced by a deep concentration in sewing up clothes and not screwing up. With Shirley there wans't much difference other than the struggle of keeping alert against her own lazy nature. Even Mower was now tied up, unable to do much unless necessary.

The only exception to this was his sister, Hazel, who had the job of grinding wheat in a house separated from the castle. That gave her the freedom of acting however she wanted towards the prince.

She had bandages all over her arms from the hard work. It hurts to see someone you love bruised. But she still kept her nervous yet cheerful actitude, so when Shaun suggested building a windmill to help her with her job, she agreed excitedly.

The memory of him teaching Hazel how to build like it was some sort of game to them gave him a tickle on his belly. Bitzer gave a confused bark at his sudden giggle.

With his prince authority, he managed to make the dog wear normal clothes instead of the cold armor unless needed. It made moments like this much nicer, althought it still took a lot of time and effort to make him open up after the feeling of blame from the attack and the training.

The prince got up pulling with his hoof, still holding on the knight's paw, to help him get up as well. The sheep smiled and he returned it.

Maybe the tales that humans felt superior or that dogs eat sheep meat were real, but so were the pointed teeth from his furry friend's smile that were made to protect him and never hurt him, just as much as the joke one of the twins whispered when passing beside him or the time Shirley fell asleep against a door while three naughty pigs were pushing from the other side.

Things may have change, but with a little bit of work, it could still be a home.

Something hard suddenly hit his back, shaking him awake. Opening his eyes, he could see Nuts giving him his usual innocent morning smile.

It was just a dream.


	2. Chapter 2

Shaun was relaxing under his favourite tree's shadow. The dream has left him with certain feeling he coulnd't describe. It wasn't bad thought.

A tiny bleat made him open one of his eyes. Timmy was hopping in front of him with a football ball, asking to play, to which he agreed. It was a nice day to play.

The lamb kicked excitedly the ball, but it was too weak and it stoped some steps before reaching the sheep. Shaun gave a gente push to give it back, making a gesture with his arms, maybe kick a little bit harder? With a frown in his eyes and taking some steps back, he tried again, this time his cousin had to quickly stick out a leg to stop it. That one was good!

But at the third time, the ball bumped against a small Stone that had the perfect shape of a ramp that made it jump so high, it flew above Shaun and hit the barn's door. Running to stop it, they got there just in time to see it slam against a Bush, then the barn again, then the floor, bam, boom, poof, until it ended up gettin inside Bitzer's doghouse with a crash. They gulped. If something was broken, the dog would kill them!

Shaun made a gesture for Timmy to stay there while he went to get the ball. The baby appreciated how brave he looked but he was actually scared for his life.

The inside of the doghouse was much bigger than how it looks from the outside, with space enough to fit a whole sheep. The only stuff Bitzer had there was a pillow and a blanket, perfectly folded and organized in a corner, the ball he was looking for and an alarm clock face down behind it. The sheep took it, making sure it wasn't broken. Lucky for him, it wasn't.

At placing it back against a wall, he noticed a doodle of a flower there made with a black marker. It was old and wasted. In fact, all of the walls where covered in old drawings here and there.

And all of the sudden, as a floating feeling was invaded his body and the strong smell of his best friend reached his nose, all of the memories that he had dreamt, he remembered, they were real. And the faded memory of his parents, the lambs, being kidnapped, the man, of growing up, of hiding in that cave together on stormy nights, it all came to him as clear as water, as it was something he was still living and yet it was so long ago.

The dizziness and racing heartbeat of the amount of different emotions were heavy enough to make him lay down, and light enough to make him feel like he was in a cloud, or maybe it was some sort of fever dream. It didn't help when through that door hole, that was surrounded by their names written on the wood, came the shadow of a little lamb, worried that something might have happened to him. It was like being with one of his siblings again, even if everything was different.

Ignoring his fluttering belly, the older sheep got up and gave his cousin a sincere smile.

It was a good life.


End file.
